Quality grading unit for egg handling machines



Oct. 2, 1962 QUALITY GRADING Original Filed Dec. 28, 1953 F'II3 2 H. J. MUMMA 3,056,489

UNIT FOR EGG HANDLING MACHINES 9 Sheets-Sheet l TII3 :EI

INVENTOR HAROLD J. MUIMMA gym g/ M- ZL/ ATTORNEY Oct. 2, 1962 H. J. MUMMA 3,056,489

QUALITY GRADING UNIT FOR EGG HANDLING MACHINES Original Filed Dec. 28, 1953 9 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR HAROLD \LMUMMA ATTORNEY Oct. 2, 1962 H. J. MUMMA 3,056,439

QUALITY GRADING UNIT FOR EGG HANDLING MACHINES Original Filed Dec. 28, 1953 9 Sheets-Sheet 3 mkwum.

0 Rovm r wig lee? leog Q INVENTOR OLD J.MUMMA ATTORNEY Oct. 2, 1962 H. J. MUMMA 3,056,489

QUALITY GRADING UNIT FOR EGG HANDLING MACHINES Original Filed Dec. 28, 1955 9 Sheets-Sheet 4 T I E I3 INVENTOR HAROLD J. MUMMA l.

BY M 5% 7 ,M 'Z.;/.

ATTORNEY Oct. 2, 1962 H. J. MUMMA QUALITY GRADING UNIT FOR EGG HANDLING MACHINES Original Filed Dec. 28, 1953 9 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR HAROLD J. MUMMA BY M w ATTORNEY 1962 H. J. MUMMA 3,056,489

QUALITY GRADING UNIT FOR EGG HANDLING MACHINES Original Filed Dec. 28, 1953 9 Sheets-Sheet 6 INVENTOR HAROLD \LHUHMA ATTORNEY H. J. MUMMA 3,056,489

QUALITY GRADING UNIT FOR EGG HANDLING MACHINES Oct. 2, 1962 9 Sheets-Sheet 7 Original Filed Dec. 28, 1953 ATTORNEY Oct. 2, 1962 H. J. MUMMA 3,056,489

QUALITY GRADING UNIT FOR EGG HANDLING MACHINES Original Filed Dec. 28, 1953 9 Sheets-Sheet 9 F I I3 1 I3 lea 3|? r' I60) L I $2 224 g 320 ZIG ale INVENTOR HAROLD J. MUMMA BY W ATTORNEY 3,056,489 QUALITY GRADDIG UNIT FOR EGG HANDLING MACHINES Harold J. Manama, Riverside, Califi, assignor to FMC Corporation, a corporation of Delaware ()riginal application Dec. 28, 1953, Ser. No. 400,466, now

Patent No. 2,895,274, dated July 21, 1959. Divided and this application May 15, 1959, Ser. No. 813,394

Qlaims. (Ci. 198232) The present invention relates to machines for handling eggs, and more particularly to a quality grading unit for an egg handling machine.

This application is a division of my copending application, U.S. Serial No. 400,466, filed December 28, 1953, for a Machine For Handling Eggs.

An object of the present invention is to provide a feed chute that is adapted to receive eggs with their main axes disposed transversely thereto and which is operable to advance eggs deposited thereonto to desired points of delivery while maintaining them in the defined axial position.

Another object is to provide an improved article feed chute.

Another object is to provide an improved quality grading unit for egg handling machines.

Another object is to provide a quality grading unit wherein the transfer of eggs from a quality feed chute to a conveyor is controlled by the advancement of the conveyor.

Another object is to provide a quality grading unit wherein the quality feed chute transfers eggs to a conveyor when the conveyor has a vacant cup for receiving an egg.

These and other objects of the present invention will be apparent from the following description of the accompanying drawings which illustrate a preferred embodiment thereof and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view of an egg handling machine incorporating therein the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic side elevation of the machine shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a schematic side elevation of the same machine viewed from the opposite side.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary schematic perspective illustrating mechanical power trains employed in the machine shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a perspective of one of the candling stations included in the machine shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 6 is a section through the feed elevator of the candling station illustrated in FIG. 5 taken along lines 66 thereof.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged fragmentary perspective of a portion of the candling station illustrated in FIG. 5.

FIG. 8 is a perspective of the candling station illustrated in FIG. 5 as viewed from a point rearwardly of, and below, said candling station.

FIG. 9 is a fragmentary perspective of one of the several feed racks comprised in each candling station.

FIG. 10 is a plan view of the feed rack illustrated in FIG. 9.

FIGS. 11 and 12 are vertical longitudinal sections through the feed rack illustrated in FIG. 10 taken along lines 1112 thereof and illustrating consecutive operational positions of said feed rack.

FIG. 13 is a transverse section through the feed rack illustrated in FIG. 9 taken along line Iii-13 of E16. 10.

FIG. 14 is a fragmentary section through said feed rack taken along line 1414 of FIG. 10.

FIG. 15 is an elevational detail view illustrating a part "ice of the feed rack structure as viewed in the direction of the arrows 1515 associated with FIG. 10.

FIG. 16 is a section through the feed elevator comprised in each candling station, taken along line 1616 of FIG. 6.

FIG. 17 is a fragmentary perspective of one of the egg supporting cups carried by the feed elevators of the machine.

In FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 is illustrated an egg handling machine that comprises six candling stations individually identified by the reference numerals 151, 152, 153, 154, and 156. Every one of said stations is provided with a platform 157 upon which the candler receives cases or crates with eggs from an inclined roller conveyor 153. At every one of said stations, an operator examines the eggs for external appearance, views them against a torch 159 (FIG. 5) to determine their internal condition and places those found acceptable upon one of eight superposed racks or chutes 160 (FIG. 5), individually identified by the sufiix letters a, b, c, d, e, f, g, and it, according to their individual quality, while depositing eggs that are broken, excessively dirty, or otherwise unfit for human consumption into cardboard containers (not shown) placed upon trays 162 that are supported in candelabrum fashion at the right end of the racks 169 as viewed in FIG. 5.

At each candling station the eight superposed racks or chutes 160 are arranged to deliver eggs deposited thereinto onto cups 164 upon the rising run 166 (FIGS. 5 and 6) of an elevator 168, and whenever an egg passes from the end of a rack or chute 166 into a cup 164, it actuates a mechanism that registers the quality of the egg, as represented by the rack onto which it was deposited by the candler, upon a rotary control device 170 (FIGS. 1 and 4) termed the memory belt that operates within a cabinet indicated at 172 in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3. Said memory belt is divided into a multitude of consecutive horizontally extending strip-shaped sectors 175 (FIG. 4), and every one of the cups 164 on the rising runs of the six elevators 16S comprised in the machine is represented by a sector 175 of the memory belt. The memory belt 171) turns in timed relation with the elevators 168, and when an egg passes from one of the eight racks 160 of a candling station onto a cup 164 of the particular elevator associated with said candling station, the hereinbefore mentioned registration mechanism sets an element supported upon the sector 175 of the memory belt that corresponds to the particular elevator cup, in a manner indicative of the quality as represented by the chute or rack from which the egg was delivered onto the cup.

Every one of the six elevators 168 is arranged to deliver the eggs it receives from its associated racks or chute 160 to a respective one of six weighing mechanisms collectively identified by the reference numeral (FIG. 1) upon which the eggs are weighed and which is arranged to activate mechanism that registers the weight group to which a particular egg belongs in the same sector 175 of the memory belt that previously recorded the quality of said egg.

From the weighing mechanism of the six. candling stations, the eggs are delivered by means of a lowering mechanism (not shown) onto a common single file conveyor (FIGS. 14) that carries an endless sequence of egg retaining buckets 186 (FIG. 4), and which operates at six times the speed of the elevators 168 and is timed in such a manner relative to said elevators and the associated weighing and egg lowering mechanisms that its consecutive buckets may carry away all eggs supplied from the six elevators by the egg lowering mechanism without danger that more than one egg may be deposited into one and the same =bucket.

The conveyor 185 conducts the eggs through an oiling station 188 (FIGS. 1-3) wherein eggs of selected quality and weight combinations are subjected to an oil spray under control from the memory belt 178 to preserve their freshness. Thereafter said conveyor 185 extends over eighteen consecutive packing stations 198 (FIGS. 1, 2, and 3), each provided with a container supply magazine (not shown) and as it carries the eggs consecutively to said packing stations, it distributes eggs of the same preselected weight and quality combinations under control from the memory belt 170 at predetermined ones of said stations into suitable card board containers delivered by feed conveyors (not shown) from the magazines into positions underneath the distributing conveyor, such that said containers will receive only eggs of the same preselected weight and quality group. After a cardboard container has been filled in the described manner with eggs of the same quality and weight group, it is discharged onto a take-off ramp 193 (FIGS. 1 and 2) from where an attendant may transfer it onto a suitable take-off conveyor 194 or 195 (FIG. 1) depending on its size, while means enter into operation that deliver a fresh cardboard container from the magazine into egg receiving position below the distributing conveyor 185.

Each of the candling stations 150 (FiG. 5) is equipped with the electrical torch 159 against which the operator examines the eggs to determine their quality. The elevator 168 (FIG. 6) of each candling station comprises an endless sprocket chain 286 trained about an upper drive sprocket 208 (FIG. 4) and a lower idler sprocket 218' with its rising run disposed in a reclining plane and supported upon the center one of three ledges 211 (FIG. 7) formed along the upper edge of a reclining plank 212 (FIGS. 7 and 16) that is suitably supported from the adjacent wall 214 of a cabinet 216 which houses the hereinbefore mentioned weighing mechanism 180. The upper end of the plank 212 carries, rotatably mounted therein, the drive shaft 218 (FIG. 6) for the sprocket 208, while the idler shaft 228 for sprocket 210 is suitably journalled in the lower end of said plank.

Rigidly supported from the plank 212 at the side thereof remote from the cabinet 216, by means of gusset brackets 222 (FIGS. 6 and 8), is the supporting frame 224 (FIG. 7) for the eight superposed chutes or racks 160 of each candling station. Said frame comprises two transversely spaced reclining bars 226a and 22612 (FIGS. 7 and 8) that are rigidly connected by upper and lower brace bars 228 and 230, respectively, as best shown in FIG. 8. The upper edges of the reclining frame bars 226a and 226b are provided with eight superposed rectangular notches, as shown at 232 in FIGS. 7 and 8, to support eight superposed channels 234 of roughly U-shaped cross section that are secured to said bars by means of screw bolts 236. Rigidly secured to the outer vertical wall 238 of each channel 234 is an angle bar 240 (FIGS. 7 and 13) that forms an outer vertical wall 242 which is spaced from and extends parallel to the outer vertical wall 238 of channel 234 so that a corridor 244 of U-shaped cross section is formed be tween said vertical walls as best shown in FIG. 13.

The upper edges 246 and 248 (FIG. 9) of the walls 238 and 242, respectively, are arranged to decline slightly toward the ascending run of the elevator 168 and in this manner form a rack that acts as a chute in that eggs placed thereon with their main axes disposed transversely to said upper edges will slide or roll toward the ascending run of the elevator 168. Said edges 24-6 and 248, however, are arranged to form a sequence of gently slanting slopes 250 each followed by a relatively steep protuberance or hump 252 (FIGS. 7 and 9) with the slopes and humps of both said edges in alignment with each other in a direction transversely of the walls 234 and 248, and with a last hump 252, formed by each of said edges, located directly at the left-most ends of the walls 238 and 242. Hence, an egg placed upon the rack formed by the edges 246 and 248 will slide or roll down the first of the 4.- slopes 258 and come to rest against the first of the humps 252, as shown in FIG. 11.

Means are provided in accordance with the invention that may be operated to raise eggs bearing against the humps 252 over said humps, so that they may slide down the succeeding slopes 258 until they will eventually pass from the racks over the last humps thereof onto an empty cup on the rising run of the elevator 168. For this purpose, another channel 256 of U-shaped cross section is arranged within the corridor 244 formed between the vertical walls 238 and 242 (FIGS. 9 and 13). Said channel 256 is pivotally supported from the vertical walls 238 and 242 near the outer ends thereof by means of a removable pivot pin 258, as best shown in FIGS. 9, 10, 11 and 13, and the upper edges 260 and 262 of vertical walls 264 and 266 of said inner channel form a sequence of transversely aligned protuberances or humps 268 and gently slanting slopes 27 0, with said humps 268 located a limited distance in front of the humps 252 formed by the vertical rack walls 238 and 242, as best shown in FIG. 11, and with each of the side walls 264 and 266 of said inner channel 256 arranged to terminate with a gently descending slope 271 at its left-most end in alignment with the terminal humps 252 of the rack walls 238 and 242 (FlGS. 7, 9, 11 and 12).

Normally the humps 268 of the inner channel 256 are located below the lowest point of the descending slopes 258 formed by the rack walls 238 and 242, as shown in FIG. 11, so that they will not interfere with the passage of an egg down said slopes 258 to the lowest points 254 thereof directly in front of a succeeding hump 252, but means are provided in accordance with the invention that may oscillate the inner channel 256 cyclically about its pivot pin 258 so that their humps 268 are periodically raised above the level of the succeeding humps 252 formed by the outer rack walls 238 and 242 and in this manner lift any eggs that may at the moment be positioned in the depressions 254 of said rack walls 238 and 242 above the humps 252 (FIG. 12) so that they may roll down the succeeding slopes 258 formed by the rack walls.

For this purpose, the drive shaft 218 of the elevator 168 carries a cam 272 (FIG. 8) that has two diametrically opposite peaks 273 and which engages a roller 274 that is pivoted to an actuating bar 276 whose slotted upper end 278 is slidably engaged over the outwardly projecting end of the drive shaft 218. Said bar 276 is slidably received in slotted guide blocks 230 and 282 that are suitably supported from the braces 228 and 238 of the hereinbefore described frame 224. A spring 284 tensioned between the lower end of the bar 276 and the lower guide block 282 urges said bar with its roller 274 constantly into operative engagement with the contour of the earn 272 so that said bar is continuously reciprocated between an upper and a lower position as long as the elevator 168 is in operation. Adjustably mounted in said bar 276 opposite each of the channels 234 supported from frame 224 are eight actuating studs 286, one for each of the eight egg lifting channels 256 comprised in each candling station. Every one of said studs overlies the free end 287 (FIG. 13) of a lever 288 that extends through and is pivotally supported from the forked lower end 289 of a mounting block 298 secured to the rear wall 291 of its respective rack channel 234 (FIG. 9). Said lever 288 projects with its opposite end 232 through a suitable aperture 294 provided in said rear wall 291, and carries within the channel 234 a rod 296 extending in a direction parallel to the channel (FIGS. 13 and 14). The end of said rod 296 remote from the rising run of the elevator 168 is turned upwards to form an actuating hook 238 that engages normally the under side of an arm 38%). Said arm is secured to the bottom wall 381 of the eg lifting channel 256 and projects through an aperture 382 in the outer wall 238 of the channel 234, as best shown in FIG. 9.

A suitable spring 384 tensioned between a stud 386 rigidly supported from the mounting block 299 and the free end 287 of the lever 288 (FIGS. 3, 9 and 13) con stantly urges said free end into engagement with its actuating stud 286 on the reciprocating bar 276, and when its roller 274 encounters one of the peaks 273 of the aforementioned cam 272 on the elevator drive shaft 218, said lever 288 is swung in counterclockwise direction, as viewed in FIGS. 9 and 13, against the urgency of spring 304-. This raises the end 292 of the lever 288 within the channel 234 and causes the hook 298 formed by the rod 296 to lift the arm 3%. The arm 3% in turn raises the egg lifting channel 256 from the position shown in PEG. 11 to the position shown in FIG. 12. When the channel 256 is raised in the described manner, the bumps 268 formed by its side wall lift any eggs that may be seated in the depressions 254 of the rack walls 238 and 242 above the humps 252 of said rack walls, as shown in FIG. 12, so that said eggs will readily negotiate said humps 252, and after the inner channel 256 has returned to its lower position below the level of the rack walls-which occurs under the force of spring 364 as soon as the roller 27'? of bar 276 has negotiated one of the peaks 273 of cam 272 on the elevator drive shaft-the eggs lifted over the humps 252 may roll into the succeeding depressions 254 formed by the rack walls.

As the egg lifting channel 256 is alternately raised and lowered relative to the egg supporting edges of the rack walls 238 and 242, eggs deposited onto said rack Walls negotiate successively hump after hump 2552. In this manner, the eggs advance toward the ascending run of the elevator 168 to be eventually delivered into one of the cups 164 supported from the elevator (FIG. 7) and as they come intermittently against, and are halted by, two transversely aligned humps 252, their axes are continually placed into transverse relation relative to the chute formed by the rack walls 238 and 242.

The cups 164 are provided along the circumference of the elevator chain 2% at intervals equal to the distances between consecutive ones of the superposed racks 16% (FIGS. and 7) and each comprise two bar-shaped supporting members 316a and 316]) that are covered with rubber pads 317 and which extend transversely of the elevator chain and are spaced from each other in a direction longitudinally of said chain. Said members 316a and 31612 are bent to form a shallow V, as best shown in FIG. 7, so as to retain an egg deposited thereonto. At the side adjacent the hereinbefore mentioned cabinet 216 and remote from the ends of the racks 160, the members 316a and 31612 are rigidly secured to, and connected by, a brace bar 31% (FIGS. 7, l6 and 17) that forms a downwardly directed stem or foot 319 which is rigidly secured to a pivot stud 32% that projects from and is rotatably received in a tubular bearing 321. Said bearing in turn is firmly secured to the left inner corner of a T-shaped mounting plate 322 whose cross bar 323 is rigidly connected to two transversely aligned links 324a and 32% of the elevator chain 266. The stem 319 carries an ear 325, and a spring 326 tensioned between said ear and a stud 327 provided on the right end of the cross bar 323 yieldably holds said ear 325 against a stop lug 328 secured to the center bar 329 of the T-shaped mounting plate 322, and in this manner maintains the cup in the upright position illustrated in FIG. 17 when it travels along the rising run of the elevator 168.

Since the egg lifting performance of all the inner channels 256 is controlled by the cam 272 that is mounted upon the shaft 218 which drives the elevator 168, the egg releasing upward movement of said inner channels may readily be timed to occur in such relation to the advance of the cups on the rising run of the elevator that the terminal humps 268 of said inner channels 256 will raise eggs lying in the last depressions 254- of the rack walls 238 and 242 at a time when the cups 164 on the elevator move into registry with the ends of the eight superposed racks 169 so that any egg raised over the last humps 252 in any one of the racks will roll laterally onto the V-shaped supporting members 316a and 31612 of a cup on said elevator (FIG. 7).

In order that no cup may receive more than one egg, as it moves past the ends of the eight superposed racks 160, means are provided in accordance with the invention that disable the actuating trains of the egg lifting channels 256 individually whenever a cup filled with an egg moves into registry with a particular rack.

Having reference to FIGS. 9 and 14, the rod 296, within the channel 234, whose hooked inner end 298 lies below and supports the arm 30%) of the egg lifting channel 256, is arranged to slide within an aperture 293 provided in the end 292 of lever 288 and its opposite end 299 is pivotally connected to the downwardly directed arm 330 of a lever 331 of bell crank shape. Said lever is firmly mounted upon a substantially horizontally disposed transverse spindle 332 that extends through and is rotatably supported in the outer wall 238 of channel 234 below the level of the egg lifting channel 256 (FIGS. 7 and 10). Adjacent the elevator 168, the bottom wall 39/1 of said channel and also the bottom wall formed by the angle bar 240 terminate short of the ends of their side walls, and at a point intermediate of said side walls below the open bottom area of the channels 256 and 240, the spindle 332 is turned to form a radially directed arm 333 that projects at a slight angle into the space defined by and between the egg supporting members 3160 and 31611 of the cups 164r on the ascending run of the elevator 168. Therefore, when an empty cup approaches one of the described egg feeding racks, its supporting members 316a and 3161) will straddle said arm 333 (FIG. 7) and will pass without effect thereon. The hereinbefore described actuating mechanism for the egg-advancing channel 256 will, therefore, continue to oscillate said channel in the manner described hereinbefore so that any egg that might lean against the last set of humps 252 on the rack channel 240 will be lifted above said humps and roll onto the cup as it moves into registry with said rack channel. However, if a cup with an egg lying thereon approaches a particular rack, the egg on said cup will come against the arm 333 before the cup moves into registry with the rack. Said egg will force the arm 333 to yield in clockwise direction, as viewed in FIG. 7, which swings the bell crank 331 in counterclockwise direction, as viewed in FIG. 9, causing its lower arm 330 to pull the hookshaped inner end 298 of the rod 296 laterally away from the actuating arm 30!) of the egg lifting channel 256, as illustrated in FIG. 14. Thus, the power train from the actuating cam 272 (FIG. 8) to the egg lifting channel 256 (FIG. 9) is interrupted and said egg lifting channel will come to a standstill, and as a result thereof any egg that may rest against the last set of humps on the particular feed rack will remain on said rack. Once the cup with an egg lying thereon has risen above the end of the disabled feed rack, however, the weight of the substantially horizontally directed upper arm 334 of the bell crank 331 restores said crank to its normal position wherein the hook-shaped inner end v295E of the sliding rod 296 is again in operative relation to the arm 3% of the egg lifting channel 256, unless another cup with an egg lying thereon should follow the first cup and again disable the egg advancing mechanism of the rack in the same manner as previously described.

The portion 335 of the channel wall 238 within which the spindle 332 is rotatably supported is preferably bent laterally into a plane parallel to the plane defined by the ascending run of the elevator (FIGS. 7 and 9). Thus, the spindles 332 Will all be disposed accurately at right angles to the path of advance of the elevator cups and the operational arcs of their actuating arms will lie entirely within the oblique plane along which the eggs are elevated and will, therefore, be actuated to the fullest possible extent upon slightest contact with an egg.

To maintain the rotatable arms 333 in their proper appease position wherein they project obliquely into the path of the eggs and to avoid that they drop below said position, the bearings 336 within which the spindles 332 are arranged to turn and which are rigidly secured in the above described laterally bent portion 335 of the channel wall 238 (FIGS. 11 and 12) carry a stop arm in the form of a rod 337 that extends below the radially directed actuating arm 333 and against which said actuating arm may rest when in idle position.

Likewise supported within the outer wall 238 of the egg supporting channel 234 below the level of the egg lifting channel 256 and near the discharge end thereof is a rotary spindle 338 that extends through the inner wall of the mounting channel 234 and carries upon its end, adjacent the outer face of said inner mounting channel wall, a switch actuating cam 339 as illustrated in FIGS. 9 and 15. Upon rotation in clockwise direction, as viewed in said FIGS. 9 and 15, said cam is arranged to actuate the arm 340 of a normally open switch 341 that lies in the power circuit of a solenoid (not shown) located adjacent the hereinbefore mentioned memory belt 170. As described in detail in my aforementioned application, both the switches 341 and the solenoids are individually identified by the suffix letters a, b, c, d, c, g and 11 corresponding to the racks 160 with which the switches 34d are associated. Intermediately the end slopes 271 of the egg lifting channel 256, the spindle 33% is provided with a pair of radially directed actuating arms 347 and 349 that protrude through the open bottom areas of angle bar 240 and channel 256, respectively, at either side of and in a direction parallel to the channel walls 264- and 266 and above the arm 333 of the rack disabling mechanism, as best shown in FIGS. 9, 10, 11 and 12. When an egg rolls over the last humps 252 of the feed rack onto a cup moving into registry therewith, it depresses the arms 34-7 and 349, as shown in FIG. 12, which swings the cam 339 briefly in clockwise direction, as viewed in FIGS. 9 and 15, and in this manner momentarily closes the particular switch 341 associated with the feed rack. Upon closure, said switch 341 energizes the corresponding solenoid which activates, on the memory belt 17% a member indicative of the egg quality represented by the particular rack 160 with which the switch 34-1 is associated in a manner described in greater detail in my abovementioned opening application.

\Vhile the machine of the invention as illustrated in the accompanying drawings and as described in the specification was specifically defined, and is employed for processing eggs, it will be understood that a machine embodying the principles of the invention may also be usefully employed in connection with other articles, such as avocados, lemons, or other highly priced fruit.

It will be understood that modifications and variations of the embodiments of the invention disclosed herein may be resorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention and the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

1. A candling station including a conveyor having cups adapted to receive and support individual eggs thereon, feed chutes arranged to deliver eggs placed thereon onto the cups on said conveyor, said chutes comprising a pair of transversely spaced supporting bars having upper egg supporting edges of an inclination adapted to cause an egg placed thereon with its axis extending transversely thereto to advance from the higher to the lower end thereof and transversely aligned humps formed in the supporting edges of said bars at said lower end thereof to block further advance of eggs placed upon said edges, means operable to lift eggs leaning against said humps above said humps, means operable to advance said conveyor, means normally effective to actuate said egg lifting means in timed relation with the advance of said conveyor, and control means rendered effective by the presence of an egg in a conveyor cup approaching a feed chute to temporarily disable the actuating means for the egg lifting means of said particular feed chute, said control means including a lever system having an actuating member extending into the path of movement of said cups to be engaged by eggs in said cups.

2. A feed chute for articles comprising parallel article supporting bars forming a sequence of transverse aligned slopes of an inclination causing an article placed thereon to roll toward the lowest points thereof, said supporting bars including transversely aligned protuberances formed on said edges of a magnitude adapted to arrest further advance of an article rolling down said slopes, movable means disposed between said supporting bars and forming protuberances at points in the region of the lowest points of the slopes formed by said supporting bars, and means operable to oscillate said movable means from a lower position wherein its protuberances are located below said slopes to a position wherein its protuberances are raised sufficiently high to lift an article on said supporting bars over the protuberances thereof.

3. A candling station including a conveyor having cups adapted to receive and support individual eggs thereon, each cup including a pair of spaced egg-supporting arms, an inclined feed chute arranged to deliver eggs placed thereon onto the cups on said conveyor and having an egg supporting surface of an inclination adapted to cause an egg placed thereon with its axis extending transversely thereto to advance from the higher to the lower end thereof and having protuberances formed in the egg supporting surface thereof to block further advance of eggs placed upon said surface, means operable to lift eggs leaning against said protuberances above said protuberances, means operable to advance said conveyor, means normally effective to actuate said lifting means in timed relation with the advance of said conveyor, and a linkage rendered effective by the presence of an egg in a conveyor cup approaching said feed chute to temporarily disable the actuating means for said egg lifting means, said linkage including an abutment member disposed in the path of movement of said cups and arranged to be engaged and actuated by an egg in a particular cup, the spaced arms of each cup being arranged to pass on each side of said abutment member if no egg is in the cup.

4. A candling station including a conveyor having cups adapted to receive and support individual eggs thereon, a feed chute arranged to deliver eggs placed thereon onto the cups on said conveyor and having an egg supporting surface of an inclination adapted to cause an egg placed thereon with its axis extending transversely thereto to advance from the higher to the lower end thereof and having abutment means formed in the egg supporting surface thereof to block further advance of eggs placed upon said surface, means operable to lift an egg leaning against said abutment means above said abutment means, means operable to advance said conveyor, a cam movable in timed relation to said conveyor, and operatively connected to said lifting means and normally effective to actuate said egg lifting means in timed relation with the advance of said conveyor, and a linkage connected to said lifter means and disposed in the path of movement of an egg in a conveyor cup approaching said feed chute to be contacted by the egg, said linkage being effective when contacted to temporarily disable the actuating means for said egg lifting means.

5. A candling station including a conveyor having cups adapted to receive and support individual eggs thereon, feed chutes arranged to deliver eggs placed thereon onto the cups on said conveyor, said chutes having egg supporting surfaces of an inclination adapted to have eggs placed thereon with their axes extending transversely thereto to advance from the higher to the lower end thereof and protuberances formed in the supporting surface at said lower end thereof to block further advance of eggs placed upon said surfaces, an oscillatable member operable to lift eggs leaning against said protuberances above said protuberances, means operable to advance said conveyor, a slidable 9 10 actuating member movable from a position of alignment References Cited in the file of this patent with said lifting means to a position spaced from said UNITED STATES PATENTS aligned pos1t1on, cam means driven by said conveyor and arranged to oscillate said lifting means through said actu- 1,599,955 QP 1929 ating member when said actuating member is in said 5 2,031,441 Wlushaw et a1 y 25, 1937 aligned position, and means rendered effective by the pres- 2,441,469 Cameron May 111 1948 ence of an egg in the conveyor cup approaching a feed 2,463,578 Tyler 1949 chute to slide said actuating member away from said 2,791,978 Nordqulst et May 1957 aligned position to temporarily disable said actuating 2,929,488 Mcclelland 22, 1960 means for the egg lifting means of said particular feed 10 chute. 

